The Final Destination
The Final Destination is a 2009 3-D supernatural thriller/horror film written by Eric Bress and directed by David R. Ellis, both of whom also worked on Final Destination 2. Released on August 28, 2009, it is the fourth installment to the Final Destination franchise, and the first of which to be shot in HD 3-D. The Final Destination is rated R by the MPAA for strong violent/gruesome accidents, language and a scene of sexuality, in the United Kingdom, it is rated cert 15. Plot While watching a race at McKinley Speedway for a study break, college student Nick O'Bannon has a premonition of a car crash which sends debris into the audience, crushing some spectators and resulting in the stadium partially collapsing, killing almost everyone present in the 180 section. In a panic Nick convinces his girlfriend Lori Milligan, and friends Hunt Wynorski and Janet Cunnigham to leave, with the quartet being followed by a handful of others who become angry with Nick after he pushes past them to escape. A security guard named George Lanter intervenes when everyone begins to argue outside, just as the catastrophe Nick had foreseen occurs. After a memorial service at McKinley Speedway, two of the spectators who followed Nick and his friends out of the stadium - Carter Daniels and Samantha Lane died violently in freak accidents. Before their deaths, Nick had seen omens of clues how they would die. Hearing about Carter and Samantha's deaths on the news, Nick and Lori begin doing research, and learn about the disasters that occurred in the previous three films (The Explosion of Flight 180, Highway Pile-up of Route 23, and Rollercoaster Derailment of the Devil's Flight and discover that the survivors (who were saved by premonitions) began dying in a series of improbable accidents shortly afterwards. While Hunt and Janet refuse to believe them, Nick and Lori manage to convince George that Death is after them and the trio begin trying to warn other survivors, though fail to save any except for Janet, who nearly drowns getting her car washed. The next survivors to die are Andy Kewzer, Hunt and Jonathan Grove. George is abruptly killed just after Nick has a second premonition showing him that Lori and Janet will die while watching a film in a shopping mall cinema after an explosion in a room above the theater. Nick rushes to reach them, while Lori begins spotting omens warning her that the danger is not over. Once Nick arrives, he and Lori attempt to convince Janet to leave, but are unsuccessful in their efforts. Janet is killed in the explosion and Lori also meets her demise. Nick then realizes that the event hasn't happened yet, and is able to save his friends by extinguishing the fire that would have caused the initial explosion. Weeks later, the trio, thinking they have conquered Death's plan, celebrate survival at a cafe. Nick notices a loose leg on a scaffold outside the cafe, and he tells a construction worker to fix it up. Once inside he drifts off into thought after seeing omens around him, and realizes that his premonitions and signs, along with all the disasters and deaths that had occurred since the speedway incident, are red herrings from Death used to manipulate them into where and when it would really come for them. Just as Nick realizes this, the scaffold falls, and in order to avoid it, a truck swerves, crashes through the cafe window, and kills the group, leaving all connected to the McKinley Speedway disaster dead. Cast Opening The opening credits of The Final Destination features some of the deaths in the past films via X-Ray versions. It begins by showing Evan's and Kat's impalement, followed by Rory's disection. Kimberly's premonition is shown, and then Tod's strangulation and Valerie's knife impalement. Afterwards, there is Frankie's partial decapitation, Nora's full decapitation, Erin being impaled by nails and Ian is crushed by a cherry picker. Next was Ashley's & Ashlyn's tanning bed incineration and Perry's flagpole impalement. Train 081 is shown (Implying Wendy's, Kevin's & Julie's deaths). A wall hole machine's blade spins (Although nobody in the series died in such a way) and a piece of Carter's wrecked car decapitates Billy. Eugene's & Clear's explosive hospital deaths are shown, and then the Devil's Flight rollercoaster derailing. The last death in the opening credits is Terry being hit by a bus. Carter's, Tim's,Alex's, Brian's & Lewis's actual deaths are not shown, as well as the Flight 180 disaster.thumb|300px|right|The Opening Alternate Ending Alternate Ending *Nick realizes he has to kill himself for the chain to end. So, he puts out the initial fire and then jumps out a window, killing himself. Later, Janet and Lori embrace, thinking that it is over. Suddenly, a car hits the crane with the A/C unit. The unit drops and crushes Lori and Janet. This alternate ending contains a contradiction to the apparent 'rules' of deaths design according to the rules unless the person is next to die any suicidal attempt (and possibly any attempt by another party) on the persons life will fail two examples of this are Eugene Dix and George Lanter both of whom made failed attempts at suicide this contradiction is the possible reason it wasn't chosen as the canon ending. *In another, Nick is also crushed with Lori in the escalator, instead of it being a vision. * Production Development After the success of Final Destination 3, which was initially planned to be in 3-D, Eric Bress wrote a script, which impressed producer Craig Perry and New Line Cinema enough to green-light a fourth installment. James Wong was on board to direct, but because of scheduling conflicts, he decided to drop out. Consequently, the studio executives opted for David R. Ellis to return because of his work on Final Destination 2, who personally accepted because of the 3-D. For the 3-D, which is the same technology James Cameron used for Avatar, Perry said that he wanted it to add depth to the film instead of just "something popping out at the audience every four minutes." Filming Although shooting was to be done in Vancouver, which was where the previous three films were shot, David R. Ellis convinced the producers to shoot in New Orleans instead to bring business in the city, and because the budget was already big. The opening crash sequence at "McKinley Speedway" was filmed at Mobile International Speedway in Irvington, Alabama. Filming began in March 2008 and ended late May in the same year. Reshoots were done in April 2009 at Universal Studios Florida. Promotion Producer Craig Perry presented clips of the film at San Diego Comic Con. Additionally, a number of video games feature The Final Destination posters: Saints Row 2 has posters around the city taped to walls and poles, Skate 2 features billboards with posters on them, and Mercenaries 2: World in Flames added billboards with the movie's logo in a content update. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 also features the promotional posters hidden around certain maps with the main goal to find all of the posters for a chance to win $1,300.Proof of Vegas2 contest Release The film was released in 3-D as well as in conventional theaters on August 28, 2009, the same release of Halloween II. It was initially planned for an August 14 release. It is also the first 3-D film to feature D-BOX motion feedback technology in select theaters. Reception The film received mostly negative reviews by critics. As of August 29, it holds a 30% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. There was general agreement that "The Final Destination is predictable, disposable horror fare". Likewise, based on the 13 reviews collected, Metacritic awards the film an average score of 34/100, which denotes "generally unfavorable reviews". Many critics opined that "the series has clearly run out of ideas". "The biggest sin of The Final Destination is its general lack of imagination," says one. "It's death porn, pure and simple," says another. "Whatever hints of originality lay in the series' previous editions have been all but sucked out of this one," spoke Jordan Mintzer of Variety. Some positive reviews referenced its "OK sense of humor", "swift progression" and "effective opening sequence of racetrack destruction that puts its Fusion 3-D technology to good use." "The Final Destination has some surprising sparks of life to it yet," says Dustin Putman of TheMovieBoy. In addition, fans (as well as non-fans) of the series were nevertheless generally favorable of the film, due to the 3-D and the hype that built around it. According to USA Today and Newsday, The Final Destination debuted as the top of the box office beating out Rob Zombie's Halloween II, by earning $28.3 million during its first weekend.USA Today Newsday Trivia *This is the first Final Destination movie to be filmed in 3D. *This movie has the largest death count standing at 11. *This is the first Final Destination movie to not feature Tony Todd *This is the first Final Destination movie to be filmed outside of Canada. *This is the first Final Destination movie to not feature the entire cast on the cover of the DVD. *This is the shortest Final Destination movie ever made, only 82 minutes long, which is barely an hour and a half long, which is how long every other movie in the series has been. *This was originally supposed to be the last film of the franchise. *The Final Destination could be "The Final Destination", since Final Destination 5 is a "prequel" to Final Destination, while Final Destination 6 and 7 is stated to be in between the current four films. External links *Official website *Final Destination Gallery Category: Films Category: The Final Destination